Note: I spell Anne as Anne because it's my preference to spell it the Japanese way. Any review telling me that I'm misspelling will be ignored.

Ren was always cute. There was an almost dorky appeal to him with those huge glasses of his.

And as Joker… well. There was no other getting around it. He was sexy. Confidence was incredibly sexy on Ren. And don't get her started on that smirk of his. Or his outfit.

But in this moment, Ren seemed to fuse the two aspects that attracted Anne to him.

All by taking off his glasses.

Okay, it had been her idea to begin with. But still. Boys rarely wore yukatas, but Anne thought that he should do something for the fireworks festival.

Because surprise, surprise—Ryuji hadn't bothered to do anything. Though Yusuke had surprised them all by donning a navy blue yukata.

Anne smoothed down her own yukata before she stole a look at her boyfriend. She hoped Ren liked her yukata.

Her boyfriend. Just thinking about it made her feel giddy sometimes. They had been dating for a couple weeks already but it still made her feel like she was floating.

Ren caught her eye. He smirked at her for a moment.

"You ladies look lovely tonight," he said smoothly.

Anne quickly ducked her head, pretending to adjust her obi.

"Why, thank you, Ren," Makoto said, polite as always. "You all look nice yourself."

"Not that Ryuji did anything with himself," Morgana snarked. "As usual."

Ryuji let out a frustrated growl.

"Listen here you stupid cat—"

Yusuke sighed, "Ryuji. Inside voice."

"I don't think he has one," Ren teased with a playful smile.

Anne pointed out, "Well… we're not inside."

"Not helping, Anne," Yusuke droned.

Makoto cleared her throat. "We do have some time before the fireworks… do you want to do something?"

Anne said quickly, "Maybe we should check out the stands?"

Ren's eyes twinkled at her for a moment before he cleared his throat.

"That sounds good to me. What about you guys?"

"I'm soooo down for some food!" Ryuji cheered, before he pumped his fist. "C'mon, Yusuke, I'll treat ya!"

"Thank you, Ryuji. I appreciate it."

"We gotta get some takoyaki! Let's go!"

"Ryuji, Yusuke, you shouldn't—!"

Makoto just sighed, dropping her outstretched hand, as Ryuji proceeded to drag the taller boy away.

"Honestly, don't they know how unhealthy this food is?" the brunette lamented.

"Why don't you go reign them in then?" Anne asked.

Makoto just smiled ruefully. "I'll do that." Then she looked at Anne sternly. "But don't gorge yourself on sweets, Anne!"

She then hurried after the boys—well, as much as she could in the geta sandals.

Morgana sighed. "I better help her. I'll see you two around."

He then jumped out of Ren's bag, leaving Anne alone with Ren. Anne had to stifle the urge to pump her fist. Yes! Just as planned!

Ren snickered at her wide smile. "Really, Anne? You're not being slick at all."

Anne just stuck her tongue at him. "Oh shut up. I just want you all to myself for a while, is that so bad?"

Ren grinned at her. "Not at all."

He caught her hand, lightly kissing it.

"You look beautiful, by the way."

Anne felt her face heat up but she tried to push it aside. Ren really was a smooth customer.

"You don't look half bad yourself."

"I would think I'd look better than that!" Ren said teasingly.

Anne snickered a little before poking him in the ribs, making him jump. "Wouldn't want to inflate your ego further, though."

But then Ren smiled at her. "So… what do you want to do first?"

"Food!" Anne said enthusiastically, only to throw up a hand. "No… wait, maybe we should play a couple games, to build up an appetite?"

"You're so silly sometimes," Ren said with a fond smile.

"HEY!"

Ren just chuckled before stepping close to her. He dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"Don't be mad, it's cute," he said lightly.

Anne stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't think you can charm your way out of trouble, Mister."

Ren just quipped, "Hey, it's gotten me out of trouble with Shadows."

Anne just giggled. "But hey, Ryuji had the right idea. Takoyaki does sound good. Good food to share!"

"I'm surprised that you didn't want taiyaki," Ren teased.

Anne pouted for a moment.

"Jeez, you act like all I eat is sweets…"

Ren just gave her a playful smile.

"Can you really blame me though?"

"I've been doing better!" Anne protested. "Honest!"

Ren just smiled at her. "I know. You can do whatever you set your mind to."

Anne felt blood rush to her cheeks. She really wondered just where Ren was finding these lines…

"B-But we're wasting time!" she blurted out. "Y-You good with getting some takoyaki?"

Ren laughed. "Takoyaki sounds great, actually."

"Ow! Hot! Hot!"

Anne just giggled, before carefully blowing on the takoyaki ball she was working on.

"It's not that bad," she said, earning a glare from Ren.

He then grumbled out, "So says the girl who's resistant to fire."

"You just popped the thing in your mouth!" she retorted. "You were totally asking for it, Ren!"

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was t—mmph."

Ren cut her off by leaning forward and kissing her softly. He then drew back with an impish grin. (Though she really had to wonder how Ren still managed to hold up the tray without dropping any of the remaining of the takoyaki balls). Then again, her boyfriend was always good with his hands.

"Was not."

Anne stuck her tongue out at him. "Just admit that you were being dumb about that!"

"Neverrrr," he huffed.

"I guess I'll have to do it for you, then," she teased.

He gasped, clasping a hand to his chest. "My lady, you wound me!"

Anne giggled again. "Drama queen."

Ren leaned in close, taking care to keep his voice down. "Oh, I'm stealing Makoto's codename now, am I?"

"Looks like it," Anne quipped, flashing her boyfriend a brilliant smile.

She then let out a content sigh.

"Something the matter?" Ren asked.

"No… no…" Anne shook her head. "I was just thinking about how nice this is. After everything with Makoto… then Kaneshiro, and then finals… I'm so glad it's all over with!"

Ren just smiled, before loosely draping his free arm around her waist. Anne leaned into his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder.

"I am too." He then admitted, "Kaneshiro… just feels like a different level than Kamoshida and Madarame. I'm glad that he's been dealt with."

"But that means that we'll be able to have lots and lots of summer fun now!" Anne exclaimed before pumping her fist. "I can't wait! We definitely need to make a trip to the beach! Promise me, okay?"

"Well… if we must," Ren let out a dramatic sigh. "The warm sun, clear water… you in a swimsuit… You'll have to practically drag me there."

Anne had to hide a smile. A swimsuit huh… She would have to pick out a good one, then. Maybe a red one? As much her Panther suit had mortified her at first, she would be the first one to admit that she looked good in red. Ah well, she would have to wait and see. She needed to check out the selection.

She just knew that she needed to find a swimsuit that would knock Ren's socks off.

"If you need to have a second opinion for swimsuits… I'm all yours."

"Pffft, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Anne asked teasingly. "Me modeling swimsuit after swimsuit for you…"

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise," Ren said with a grin. "Besides, don't you need a pack mule for all of your bags?"

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Anne protested.

"Suuure, Anne," Ren teased. "So… what do you say?"

Anne snickered. "Well, I'd prefer to surprise you."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Ohhh?" he drawled out.

But then he smiled.

"Well… I look forward to it."

Anne giggled. "Well, enough talk about that."

Anne nudged him in the side.

"Come on. I want to see more of the festival!"

Anne, personally, loved festivals. It didn't matter what kind. But there was a certain kind of magic to the summer festival, in her opinion.

And the yukatas! Anne really loved Japanese traditional dress. She would need to convince Ren to dress up in a kimono sometime—maybe for New Year's?

"Hey there!" a voice suddenly called out, snapping Anne out of her thoughts.

It was the attendant of a stall filled with masks.

"Would you and your boyfriend like to purchase a mask?"

"Wanna look, Anne?" Ren asked, turning to look at her.

Anne smiled cheerfully. "I don't see why not."

So they came closer. There were so many different kinds of masks, colorful as a rainbow. But what caught Anne's eye was…

"That's the Pink Argus mask, isn't it? From the Victory incarnation?"

"Oh?"

The attendant raised an eyebrow, letting out a chuckle.

"A fan of Feathermen, are we? Color me a bit surprised… It takes all types of fans, I suppose."

"No it's… uh…"

Anne felt her face flush. Agh, how was she going to explain this? Even Ren was looking at her in surprise.

"I'll take that mask!" she blurted out, pointing at it.

"Oh?" The attendant chuckled once again. "Well, a sale is a sale. What about the boyfriend? Interested in the Red Hawk mask? Red Hawk and Pink Argus have always been an item, after all."

Anne couldn't help but squeak, her face growing even hotter. Why did he have to say that?! Okay, it was less embarrassing because they were a couple but still! She couldn't help but imagine if they weren't dating. God, she'd probably die.

Ren just blinked for a moment but then he smiled.

"Sure, I'd love to. How much?"

"Well…" The attendant tapped his chin, his eyes twinkling. "You two are such an adorable couple. I'll give it to you for seven hundred yen."

Ren then reached for his wallet, pulling out a one-thousand yen bill.

"Ah, Ren—!" Anne began to protest.

"Keep the change," Ren said cheerily. "Have a nice night!"

"Same to you!"

Anne waited until they were several stalls away before speaking.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," Ren said with a smile.

Then he looked at her expectantly. Anne just groaned.

"I recognized it because I was doing research, okay?"

Ren repeated, "Research."

"Yes!" Anne nodded vigorously. "You've heard about Yukari Takeba, haven't you?"

Ren snorted. "I would have to be living under a rock to not know who she is."

"It's well… she's amazing!" Anne couldn't help but gush. "She got scouted when she wasn't much older than us, you know? She never thought about that kind of work, until she got pushed into it unexpectantly. Acting and modeling! I want to reach that kind of level. So I need to study and see what she gets right."

Ren just looked at her. "Well… I think you're pretty amazing with modeling already."

Anne felt her cheeks grow warm. "Thanks, Ren. But… I have a long way to go, you know… I promised Shiho that I would become the top model. I can't stop here!"

"And you'll get there. I believe in you," Ren assured her with a confident smile.

"B-But yeah. That's how I know about Feathermen."

"There's nothing wrong with that, you know," Ren told her. "I loved the R incarnation when we were in elementary school. I did fall out of it when we hit junior high, but it could be fun to watch it. Do you need a study partner?"

Anne just snorted. "I won't get any studying done with you around."

"Hey, I've got good ways of motivating you," Ren retorted.

Then he smirked.

"Positive reinforcement, remember?"

Anne huffed. "Sometimes I swear that you need to tease someone at least once a day or else you'd drop dead."

Ren just smirked. "But am I wrong?"

Anne just stuck her tongue out at him. "You won't get me to admit anything."

"Ah, well, the night is young," Ren sighed. "Er, evening. But speaking of that, we do have a lot of stalls to check out."

They decided to hit up the game stalls. Ren dominated the shooting game, much to the chagrin of the person running the game. He has really gotten good with his aim. He even won Anne the cutest plush Fennekin from the game Pusemon.

Though Anne suspected that Ren wouldn't have kept playing if it wasn't for all the kids wanting the prizes.

"Thank you, Mister!" a little girl cried out, her gray eyes sparkling as Ren handed over a stuffed unicorn (much to the dismay of the stall attendant).

"Any time." Ren patted her on the head.

"Thank you," the girl's mother said.

Ren said politely, "Any time, ma'am."

The attendant just crossed his arm in a huff as the mother and daughter set off together, the daughter happily chattering about what she was going to name her new toy.

"Are you done cheating me?" he grumbled out, shooting Ren an irritated glare.

Ren smiled cheerfully. "That's all I have for today."

He then swept a bow.

"Until next time, I suppose," he added with a wink.

Anne giggled before hugging his arm with her free arm.

She couldn't help but tease, "You just can't resist, huh?"

Ren just grinned at her in response. "Hey, tweaking the guy's nose was just a bonus. Everyone knows that the game is notoriously hard. If I can make a couple kids smile with my skills, how can I walk away?"

The last part made Anne's heart feel warm. That was Ren for you. He was incapable of walking away from someone in need. She still remembered how he still persisted in reaching out to her, even when she tried to push him away. But still… his comment about just a 'couple' kids…

"A couple?" Anne laughed. "Come on, Ren, you had to have helped at least ten kids!"

Ren quipped, "I lost track, sue me."

They then continued to wander down the stalls—which had the typical games, like ring toss and fishing for goldfish—only for Anne to stop at a group of kids gathered around a pool of water. They were playing the water balloon game, yo-yo tsuri.

"Ooh!" Anne stopped in her tracks.

Ren snickered. "You're such a little kid."

Anne felt her face warm up. "S-Shut up, they're fun!" Then she poked him in the chest. "You better watch it or you'll end up a stick in the mud."

"Perish the thought!" Ren gasped, a scandalized look appearing on his face.

"Prove it then!" Anne demanded, "Play it with me!"

"You're so demanding," Ren sighed. But then he grinned. "But sure."

"Don't act like I'm twisting your arm," Anne grumbled out.

But they waited in line for their turn. After Anne paid, they were handed a fishing pole—which was basically a paper string with a metal hook attached to it. The challenge was to scoop as many balloons as possible before the paper broke in the water.

Anne watched the floating balloons intently. She honed in on a red one with white swirls. She adjusted her grip on the fishing pole before managing to scoop it up. She also managed to hook a second one before the paper dissolved. She turned to her boyfriend in triumph… only to see that Ren had succeeded in hooking four balloons.

"Oooh… I hate you," Anne grumbled out.

Ren snickered for a moment. "Hey, you were pretty good. And you were so cute with the way you stuck out your tongue."

"S-Shut up!" Anne huffed.

"That was fun though," Ren said with a reminiscing smile. "I would always beg my parents to let me play this game."

But Anne couldn't help but feel curious.

"Is the summer festival any different in your hometown?" she asked as they walked away from the stall.

"Well, for one…"

Ren suddenly looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, so the sky was painted a beautiful orange, with streaks of red and even purple.

"We never had a festival dedicated to just fireworks. And the booths were manned by people with all kinds of local businesses. And the festival… it was to celebrate Obon."

There was a fondness in Ren's eyes as he continued to recount. A small smile appeared on his face. Anne couldn't help but smile in response. Ren… had not opened much about before his probation. And Anne couldn't help but feel happy that he felt comfortable enough to tell her about this.

"Obon… That's the Buddhist holiday, right?" Anne asked.

Her father's parents had two different religions. Her grandfather was Christian, her grandmother believed in Shintoism. Her father had been raised to respect both. Additionally, her mother had also been raised in Shintoism. Because of that, Anne only had passing knowledge of the holiday.

"Yeah, it's to respect your ancestors. In my hometown, there's a river. There was a booth that made handmade boats… You were supposed to set them afloat. It was said they contained the spirits of the dead in the boats. There were dances, and we lit up bonfires."

Ren let out a nervous chuckle.

"…Which would be a huge fire hazard here."

Anne smiled. "I'd love to see it one day," she said sincerely.

Ren looked at her in surprise.

"Wouldn't you be bored in a small town like this? You've traveled all over the world… and you've lived in Tokyo for the past few years."

Anne just hugged his arm. "You'd be by my side," she said simply. "That's all I need."

Ren blinked, looking at her in shock.

"Anne…" he breathed out.

Anne let out a nervous giggle.

"Sorry… too much?"

Ren just pulled her close. "No—not even close. It means a lot to me, actually."

Anne smiled up at him. "I'm glad."

She didn't think she'd ever tire of Ren's smile. It was really… a beautiful smile. It completely lit up his face.

But then Ren bent down, kissing her. Unlike before, it was slow, gentle, and sweet. When they broke apart, Anne could only beam up at him.

"The fireworks have nothing on this," Ren breathed out.

Anne couldn't help but laugh.

"You're so cheesy," she teased.

Ren just laughed. "You're one to talk!"

"So… good festival date?" Anne asked, eyebrow raised.

"The best," Ren confirmed.

But then their phones suddenly went off in unison. Anne fumbled with her purse, but Ren already was looking at the message.

"Ryuji says that we should meet up again," he informed her.

"Oh…" Anne said softly.

She couldn't help but feel sad. They had agreed to keep things on the downlow for a couple reasons—reasons that Anne agreed with. But she couldn't help but feel greedy. Especially with how busy Ren could get.

"Hey." Ren tilted her chin up, forcing her to look him in the eye. "This is just the beginning, you know? Just wait and see, Anne. We'll have the best summer ever."

Anne just gave him a weak smile. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

"No, not silly… I want you to myself as well." Ren winked. "But… are you ready for some proper fireworks?"

"Oh, I don't know," Anne said coyly, snagging his hand. "I thought we made some pretty great fireworks back there."

Ren just smirked. "Well, there's no stopping us from taking a few… pitstops along the way."

That's it for my on-time Shuann Week prompts! I'll be working on the other prompts in between updates of my projects. Thank you for reading and happy Shuann Week!